NWC Set For CIAC Journey; KO Gains Prep Basketball Title Game

The sting of first loss of the season was fresh. Coach John Mirabello had just finished a long postgame talk with his players. And if an upside to a down game actually exists, Mirabello wasn’t seeing it yet.

“I’ll have to think about it a little bit,” Mirabello said.

Windsor, the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Class LL tournament, thrived against Northwest Catholic in the Tuesday, rolling to a 90-65 victory. Windsor won the CCC title Thursday with an 85-70 victory over previously unbeaten Maloney.

“A rough night like this, you can’t take any of it away,” Mirabello said. “But these nights happen and I kept telling them that. Not just in basketball. Even when things are going well you’re still going to have days like this.”

The Windsor student section was a raucous and occasionally raunchy outfit at Bulkeley’s Babe Allen Fieldhouse. There were some derogatory chants. But a little extra motivation from a tough loss -- NWC's first since last year's L quarterfinals -- never hurts in the CIAC tournament.

“We’ll have a little chip on our shoulder, which is good,” Mirabello said.

NWC (22-1) is the top seed in the Class L tournament and will play the Fitch-Bristol Eastern winner March 10 at Johnson Gym. Bassick (17-4), which won the FCIAC tournament title, is a tough No. 9 seed and a possible quarterfinal threat. Eighth-seeded E.O. Smith (15-5) could get there instead.

If the tournament goes according to seeding, NWC would face fourth-seeded Lyman Hall (17-5) in the semis March 16.

No. 3 seed New London (22-0), the top-ranked team in most newspaper polls, or No. 2 Maloney (23-1) would provide NWC – and high school basketball admirers statewide – a dramatic final at the Mohegan Sun.

“We get to go to work again,” Mirabello said. “Now there are no tomorrows. Now we’re playing for our season every game.”

(13-8), which lost in the first round of the CCC tournament to Weaver, is the 19th seed in Class LL and plays at No. 14 Glastonbury (15-7) Monday. The winner has the task of meeting No. 3 Hartford Public (21-2).

CLASS LL GIRLS: Sara Binkhorst scored 21 points and Moira Honyotski had 12 as Hall defeated Sacred Heart 67-51 Friday and advanced to the Class LL quarterfinals for the first time in 26 years. Hall’s deepest CIAC run was in the 1977 Class LL championship game, a 37-35 loss to Lee-New Haven.

No. 5 seed Hall (21-3), which outscored Sacred Heart (17-7) 26-14 in the second quarter, will play fourth-seeded and NVL tournament champion Holy Cross (24-1) March 10 in Waterbury.

Kingswood Oxford reaches prep final

Tylon Smith scored 27 points and Mike Deffley had 16 to lead to a 61-58 victory over top-seeded Brooks School in the New England prep school Class B semifinals Friday in Northampton, MA.

No. 4 seed KO (19-6), a four-time New England prep champion, will play second-seeded Berkshire School Sunday in Worcester. KO, which reached the Class C semifinals in 2001-03 and was a quarterfinalist in 2009, is seeking its first title since 1991.

KO used a 19-2 run midway in the first half and held off Brooks (21-3), which closed to one point in the final three minutes. Elijah Foreman added 12 points.

In the quarterfinals, Smith (23 points) and Deffley combined for 39 points and Zack Restifo had 14 points in a 75-52 victory over Rivers School. Defley has hit eight three-pointers in the past two games.

NWC’s Gillespie win NE indoor championship

Northwest Catholic’s , the Class S champion and State Open runner-up, won the 1000-meter title at the New England indoor track championships Friday in Boston.

Gillespie ran away from Madeleine Berkson of Classical (RI) by more than 2 seconds, winning in 2:55.37. Sara Wilson of Suffield was third.

NWC’s Brian Poirier was fourth (2:32.64) in the boys 1000. Conard’s Aubrey Waggoner finished fifth in the girls mile (5:06.02).

Muntz wrestles into New England quarters

Lucas Muntz of advanced to the quarterfinals of the New England wrestling championships Friday at the New Haven Athletic Center.

Muntz, the 145-pound – Conard’s first in 12 years – pinned Cody Miller of Triton Regional in Byefield, MA, in 1 minute, 53 seconds after receiving a first-round bye. Muntz, seeking to give Conard its first New England champion since Toan Trang in 1999, will face CJ Doherty of Methuen, MA, in his first bout today.

Conard’s Johnny Bello, who lost in the second round, advanced in the 140-pound consolation bracket with an 8-0 victory over Lars Remole of Darien. Bello also beat Remole to finish third at the State Open.

CIAC hockey games set for Conard, NWC

Conard (9-7-4) was seeded 12th in the 16-team CIAC Division I tournament and will play No. 5 Ridgefield (15-4-1) Wednesday at the Winter Garden Arena in Ridgefield.

With a victory, Conard, which won four of its last five games, would likely face top seed and unbeaten New Canaan in the quarterfinals.

Northwest Catholic (9-9-2) was seeded eighth among 12 qualifiers in Division III and will play No. 9 Rockville/Manchester/Stafford (12-8-0) in the first round Monday at the Connecticut Skating Center in Newington. The winner gets No. 1 Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury. … Conard’s Dana Feigenbaum qualified to compete in all four events for the State Open gymnastics championships today at Pomperaug High School. Feigenbaum is rated 19th in CIAC scoring in the vault, fifth in the uneven bars and balance beam, fourth in the floor exercise and fifth in the all-around. Dana Hadra (uneven bars), Taylor Hadra (beam, floor), Katie Newton (beam, floor) and Shannon Bouvier (uneven bars, floor) also qualified for Conard. Annie Tracy of Hall qualified in the beam. … The Kingswood Oxford girls squash team to the New England Class C championship Feb. 26. The team features West Hartford’ Claudia Udolf, Mary Shimkus, Caroline Harvey, Hannah Rosenthal, Lauren Goldman and Brooke Hayes; Hannah Fiske of Simsbury; Erin Casey and Carolyn Mitchell of South Glastonbury; and Steph Fagbemi of West Suffield.